Jul 30, 2010

Svenja of Svenja-and-the-City

Ladies and gentlemen, today I am super happy to introduce to you blogging detective (!) Svenja of fabulous Svenja-and-the-City.

Follow the jump below to find out what makes her life much less ordinary than that of most people (or rather anyone!) I know, what Coda is, and why - to Svenja - video posts are just wrong.

What's your name, how old are you, and what do you do for a living (or all day, for that matter)?

I am Svenja, 48 years old and a detective.

How long have you been blogging? How did you get around to blogging?

I've been blogging for over five years now. It all started when my family, my wife and five kids, left me. Back then I was a Sven still.

What's your blog called and why?

My blog is called Svenja-and-the-City. The title is borrowed from an American TV series, because in it four strong single women are doing their own thing in a big city. I wanted to be just like them. :-)

What are you blogging about? Why?

I blog about my evolution from Sven to Svenja, and about my experience in Kiel, my hometown. Why? Because I feel I must.

Who's your target audience?

Everyone, transsexuals and others alike. I want to show trans people that there's definitely a way of living and working happily even after the complicated metamorphosis and other people that we're all just human. Not crazy, nor perverts, only trans.

Who designed your blog? How much was that? In case you designed your own layout: Where did you learn how to?

I designed it myself. I used to be a freelance web designer and can do stuff like that. I mean: At the time I used to be a male web designer. :-)

Which software and which host do you use? Can you recommend them?

I write HTML and CSS simply in Texteditor. This might look difficult in the beginning, but that's the easiest way of predicting what the results will look like. I work only on my Mac and use Coda as an editor. That's a perfect solution that I can recommend to everyone who's interested in HTML.

What role play photos, MP3-files or video clips on your blog? If you use them, would you mind showing us one?

With every post I upload a matching photo. I only use photos I took myself, never anyone else's, and of course they're all with Svenja in them. That makes posts more interesting. I tend to find a lot of text without images quite boring, especially when they weren't written perfectly. Videos, MP3s and Youtube clips you won't find on my blog. IMHO, there's nothing more boring than stealing a Youtube video clip and making a whole post from that. I could to that in three minutes and think it's pathetic. Even worse than cat content, really. :-)

How many readers do you have? How many would you like to have? Does their number matter to you at all?

Svenja-and-the-City has around a thousand readers a day. Currently a bit less, as there's a summer slump. I don't post as much and prefer to barbecue on my balcony.

Can you learn how to blog? Do you need to know a lot about computers? Do you have any advice for beginners?

Blogging is easy. You visit Blogger.com and hit: Start new blog. Everyone who can read can do that. And no, you don't have to know much about computers. Good advice? If you don't have anything interesting to say, shut up for a while. Like that there will only ever be interesting posts on your blog and you won't ruin everything by writing on the weather or your cat. Because if you'd like to write about the weather, your cat, or a recipe, you'll have to nail it: intelligent, different, fascinating, so that the post will still excite people in spite of its boring topic.

Have you made negative experiences with blogging, too? What kind?

An annoying troll gave me a hard time for a while. I hated the guy and never understood why he attacked me like that. Nowadays I have a troll policy I have written myself, and there's a plan for all sorts of offenses.

Do you use twitter, too? Why (not)? What pros and cons do you see when it comes to twitter?

I only used Twitter to see how it works. Now that I've understood it I find it banal and boring and stopped using it. My account's dead.

Which other female bloggers can you recommend? Why?

Gesche's blog from Kiel. She hasn't been blogging for long, but she's developed rapidly since. She writes very funny and charming, you just have to love her: http://yael365.blogspot.com/

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